The Interactive/Collaborative Classroom Environment

1. The Interactive/Collaborative Classroom Environment Staff Development: Le Cordon Bleu, College of Culinary Arts Dr. Barbara Packer-Muti Dr. Michael Simonson

2. Learning Outcomes • Participants will be able to: • Describe & contrast cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and active learning • Demonstrate examples of at least three interactive classroom techniques • Discuss the responsibilities of the instructor and the learner • Demonstrate at least two active listening techniques

3. Out with the old…in with the new! • Changing paradigms: The Old! • Transferring knowledge from faculty to students • Filling passive empty vessels with knowledge • Sorting students into categories • Conducting education in a context of impersonal relationships • Maintaining a competitive structure • Assume that content experts can teach..without training to do so

4. The new paradigm • Jointly constructed knowledge • Students actively participate, discover • Faculty develop students’ competencies and talents • Personal transactions • Cooperative learning in the class & among faculty • Teaching requires training

5. Lectures: What’s wrong with them? • Research shows • 1. Students recall 70% of the material covered in the 1st 10 mins; 20% of the material in the last 10 minutes • 2. Students are “tuned out” of a 50 minute lecture about 40% of the time

6. One technique for your consideration • Steps to building an cooperative class • Read the assigned material in advance • Instructor does a “highlights lecture” for the 1st 20 minutes • Students break into 3-5 groups to work on a pre-determined, assigned problem • Reconvene class for a brief closing lecture and common questions

7. Some Definitions: • Active Learning • Anything students do in a classroom other than passively listen to a lecture • Cooperative Learning • Subset of active learning; groups of 3 or more usually formally assigned, usually complex tasks • Collaborative Learning • Instructor & students on equal footing working on designing assignments, choosing texts, presenting material

8. Techniques of Active Learning • The One Minute Paper • Muddiest (or Clearest) Point • Affective Response • Daily Journal • Reading Quiz • Clarification Pauses • Response to a demonstration or other teacher-centered activity

9. Class Activity! • Form seven groups • Hand out’s • 5 Minutes to prepare • 2 Minutes to present • Summary • Feedback/Critique

10. Ten Tips for Effective Teaching • Teach according to your personality • Hand out a complete syllabus and course instructions on the first day • Vary your teaching methods • Let students choose their grades • Don’t take attendance • Take a hard line on late and incomplete work • Give students options for assignments • Require clear and coherent work • Combat plagiarism • Get out of the way!

11. What are your responsibilities? • Content knowledge • Clear messages • Clarifying • Constructive feedback • Classroom management • Other thoughts? What else?

12. What are “their” responsibilities? • Active interest • Responsible for their own learning • Being “engaged” • What else?

13. The Syllabus Exercise • Hand out a sample syllabus • Find a partner (or 2) • Work together to find 3 questions about the course that are not clear • Present! • Summary & feedback!

14. The Communication Process • Effective communication is key! • The message • The source • Field of experience • Communication competence • Encoding/decoding • The channel • The receiver • Feedback • Shared Meaning/Reality • The effect • Noise • The relationship • The context/situation

15. Questions and Answers Suggestions to “tweak” our questioning techniques to increase student involvement & comprehension

16. Wait Time • Instructor poses question, then waits 15 or so seconds. • No hand raising or calling out • Forces all students to think about the question • Ask for volunteers or call upon a student • “Cold calls” • “Warm calls”

17. Student Summary of Another’s Answer • Promotes active listening • Call upon a second student to summarize the first student’s response • Benefits include active participation; students must listen to one another; fosters the idea that learning is shared

18. The Fish Bowl • Students are given index cards • Students asked to write one question re: course materials (consider applications of the material to practical contexts) • Questions are deposited into the fish bowl • Instructor chooses to respond or combines the previous techniques discussed!

19. Quiz/Test Questions • Students become involved in creating quizzes or tests by constructing some (or all) test items • May be assigned as homework and may be evaluated • Instructor may use these as the basis for the review • May begin the process of considering higher level thinking skills

20. Share/Pair Grouping students in pairs provides opportunities for sharing their own personal viewpoints. It’s almost impossible for someone to avoid participating in this sort of environment.

21. One more activity! • Get into a “pair” • Choose one of the following techniques: • Discussion • Note comparison • Evaluation of another student’s work Discuss and report back!

22. One more activity! • Form a pair • Choose one of the following techniques • Discussion • Note comparison • Evaluation of another student’s work • Report back to the group!

23. Effective Listening! • Be a model • Increased knowledge of the subject at hand • Greater self-confidence • Improved relationships

24. Don’ts! • Interrupts in mid-sentence or finishes the sentence! • Poor use of the thinking/speaking time differential • Changing the subject to fit the listener’s agenda • Talking while the speaker is talking • Information overload

25. Non-verbal behaviors of poor listeners • Signs of impatience • Lacks direct eye contact • Maintains a closed body position • Fidgets • Fakes attention

26. Do’s! • Limit your own talking • Ask questions/clarify • Paraphrase • Avoid interrupting • Concentrate on the message/speaker • Make positive comments • Listen for the feelings behind the words • Maintain control over your emotions • Make an effort to listen • Develop a Listening Challenge Plan

27. Listening Challenge Plan • Name of person • Reasons for difficulty • Specific steps I will initiate • How will I know I’ve achieved my goals?

28. 7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education • Encourage student-faculty contact • Encourage cooperation among students • Encourage active learning • Give prompt feedback • Emphasize active learning • Communicate high expectations • Respect diverse talents and ways of learning • Chickering, A., & Gamson, Z. (1987).

29. Collegial Support Groups • Definition: Consists of 2-5 instructors who have the goal of improving each others’ instructional expertise and promoting each others’ professional growth

30. Keys to success in such groups • Frequent professional discussions of cooperative learning – successes are shared & problems are solved • Coplanning, codesigning, copreparing and coevaluating curriculum materials relevant to cooperative learning takes place • Coteaching and reciprocal observations of peers’ teaching lessons takes place

31. Leadership challenge! • Challenging the status quo • Inspiring a vision of what the school/college can be • Empowering through cooperative teams • Leading by example • Encouraging the heart

32. packerb@nova.edu • Thank you for actively listening! • Email me with questions/ideas • See you again soon!